PC won't boot POST until i've tried turning it on several times

[Sidescrollshot86]

Hey everyone, almost a week ago I started noticing that my computer will not boot at all the first time I turn it on. It does power up, but the mouse and keyboard get no power and the monitor doesn't display anything. I can hear the inner workings whirring about as usual, and no lights or audible error messages come from the motherboard other than the solid green light indicating power to the motherboard. After about four or five on-offs and waiting a bit each time, eventually it does boot up POST and windows. This happens whether I turn the machine completely off or put it in stand-by mode. It's annoying and pysically hard on my HDD drives to turn um on and off so much. For now, I am just leaving the machine on as much as I can to avoid the problem. Thanks for reading.

 

[Namslas90]

Welcome to TPU, How about some system specs so we can help you out?

 

[kenkickr]

You might want to test your PSU. I've seen this several times at my place of business.

 

[DrunkenMafia]

I would definitely start with the psu....

Are you confident with pulling your pc apart??? If not then it would be better to take it somewhere to get fixed... Not blading you at all just inquiring.

Oh yeah and get those specs filled out.. if you go to you profile and you will see them there..

 

[AphexDreamer]

Does your PC look like the Devil sent an army of dust men to spray dust all inside your computer?

If so, I suggest you get some compressed air and blow that dust all the way back to hell.

 

[Namslas90]

Does your PC look like the Devil sent an army of dust men to spray dust all inside your computer?

If so, I suggest you get some compressed air and blow that dust all the way back to hell.

LOL.....(actually laughed at that one)...

 

[IggSter]

I've had this EXACT problem with 2 old PC - the cause in both cases was leaking capacitors on the motherboard (around the CPU socket area)

How to check:

First locate the capacitors:

http://www.montek.com/tutorials/images/printed-value-capacitor-codes.jpg

They will look similar to this, maybe diff colour but will be like a small can.

Now examine the top:

http://www.asti-usa.com/support/appnotes/65/2.jpg

If they look like the above picture (either a brown or white substance leaking or if the top of the capacitor is bulging) the caps are useless.

You can buy replacement caps from maplin/RS etc and replace them yourself although this will take some soldering experience.

 

[Sidescrollshot86]

Thanks for the great suggestions so far! I have posted the specs on my profile, if anyone wants information more detailed i'll be glad to give it. I may have a spare power supply with sufficient power lying around so i will try swapping it. While it's open i'll check for the faulty capacitors as well. LOL, no my rig remains farily clean, it has dust filters on the front that I clean every other week, and I take care of the dust inside multiple times each year. Thanks again!

 

[Sidescrollshot86]

Well I have made a close check of all my capacitors, and they are all clean. For now though, my computer has decided to solve its own problem and appears to be cured. One thing I did change, although It had been working for months this way, was turn the virtual memory back on. I wish I could find out exactly what went wrong, so I could learn something, but as long as it works, I won't complain. If a week goes by and I don't run into the problems again, then I'll consider it fixed. If not, I found a spare power supply in my inventory that I can slap in there and see if that ends it.

 

[PeterAlt]

Hi, I am experiencing the same problem. It has something to do with the motherboard/iMon combination. When I unplug the iMon USB connector, the machine boots with no problem. After Windows has started, I could connect the iMon USB back and iMon will work with no problem, but if the system ever needs to restart, you will need to temporarily unplug the iMon USB again again to boot Windows. I have built many machines with this Antec case and never had a problem with other boards (I'm using the Asus M1M Pro) booting. I haven't given up yet as I believe the solution is yet to be found. I updated the system bios and that didn't work. I'm planning on reformatting my drive to AHCI format to see if that does the trick. What motherboard are you using? What format is your hard drive set for (AHCI or IDE)?

Message is being bumped to see if a solution is found!

Help!!!!